Bill Gates' speech to Mt. Whitney High School
in Visalia, California, is worthwhile reading for anyone. Love him or hate him,
he sure hits the nail on the head with this! To anyone with kids of any age,
or anyone who has ever been a kid, here's the advice Bill Gates dished out about
eleven things kids do not and will not learn in school. He talks about how "feel
good" and "politically correct" teachings have created a generation
of kids with no concept of reality and how this concept sets them up for failure
in the real world.

Rule 1: Life is not fair - get used to it.

Rule 2: The world won't care about your self-esteem. The world
will expect you to accomplish something BEFORE you feel good about yourself.

Rule 3: You will NOT make $40,000 a year right out of high school.
You won't be a vice-president with a car phone until you earn both.

Rule 4: If you think your teacher is tough, wait till you get
a boss.

Rule 5: Flipping burgers is not beneath your dignity. Your grandparents
had a different word for burger flipping...they called it opportunity.

Rule 6: If you mess up, it's not your parents' fault, so don't
whine about your mistakes, learn from them.

Rule 7: Before you were born, your parents weren't as boring
as they are now. They got that way from paying your bills, cleaning your clothes
and listening to you talk about how cool you are. So before you save the rain
forest from the parasites of your parents' generation, try delousing the closet
in your own room.

Rule 8: Your school may have done away with winners and losers,
but life has not. In some schools they have abolished failing grades and they'll
give you as many times as you want to get the right answer. This doesn't bear
the slightest resemblance to ANYTHING in real life.

Rule 9: Life is not divided into semesters. You don't get summers
off and very few employers are interested in helping you find yourself. Do that
on your own time.

Rule 10: Television is NOT real life. In real life people actually
have to leave the coffee shop and go to jobs.